Trinity Counseling Service and Princeton Nursery School announce the startup of ¡Adoro Leer! their collaborative Pilot Project for Family Literacy,The project is funded through the generosity of a grant from The Princeton Area Community Foundation.

¡Adoro Leer! is a new addition to Trinity Counseling Service’s ongoing Childhood Intervention Initiative which provides counseling and family support for underserved children.The goal of ¡Adoro Leer! is to make it possible for literacy and emotional well-being to occur simultaneously by providing emotional support to help families help themselves and their children.¡Adoro Leer! is unique among family literacy programs in that it adds an emotional support component to traditional family literacy activities.The pilot project begins with five Spanish-speaking families from Princeton Nursery School helping these families to enhance each child’s emotional development, as well as the love of reading.

Trinity Counseling Service’s role is to provide in-home family visits by a Spanish-speaking licensed clinical social worker who will:

·Support parents with techniques to work with their children to encourage literacy;

·Support parents who deal with depression, anxiety or substance issues that interfere with their child’s ability to learn.

Princeton Nursery School’s role in the project, in addition to providing classroom preparation of children for kindergarten-readiness, is to provide literacy-oriented family events at the school, and to coordinate ¡Adoro Leer! activities among the collaborators.The first event occurred on May 5, with a light supper and informational meeting for families interested in participating in the pilot project. In-home visits will begin next week.

Princeton Public Library also collaborates in the project by providing library-based family events to enhance PACT (Parent and Child Together) activities.

About the Childhood Intervention Initiative.The overarching goal of the Childhood Intervention Initiative is to help prepare underserved children through their developmental lifespan for success in school, in the community and beyond.Trinity Counseling Service started the entirely grant-funded project in 1997 and it has been ongoing ever since.Princeton Nursery School was one of the original collaborators in the project.

About Trinity Counseling Service.TCS has been in existence serving the Princeton community since 1968.Its core mission is to provide high-quality mental health and wellness services to all regardless of ability to pay.

About Princeton Nursery School. PNS provides affordable full-day childcare and pre-school education to low income families since 1929.PNS places special emphasis on early literacy and preparing its children socially, emotionally and cognitively for success in school.